Meta-mathematical rhetoric: Hero and Ptolemy against the philosophers (Q2251421)

In prefatory comments on several of their works, Hero of Alexandria (\textit{Belopoeica}, \textit{Pneumatica}, \textit{Metrica}) and Claudius Ptolemy (especially the \textit{Almagest}, but also the \textit{Tetrabiblos} and later in the \textit{Harmonics}) make remarks opposing mathematics to philosophy, or some branch of it. In particular, these texts assert the superiority of mathematics to other disciplines due to the indisputability of the knowledge that it generates. The author argues that Hero and Ptolemy were part of a single meta-mathematical tradition, possibly initiated by Hero, that sought to place mathematicians favorably in relation to the culturally more dominant philosophers.